


flesh without blood (life in the vivid dream)

by orphan_account



Series: blow a kiss, fire a gun [2]
Category: Monster High
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 14:43:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5094527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abbey can understand why this Frankie is considered an abomination.</p><p> </p><p>She is a mixture of different parts, sewed together sloppily and only living because of electricity. An unholy, filthy being that does not deserve to live.</p>
            </blockquote>





	flesh without blood (life in the vivid dream)

**Author's Note:**

> Please read [part one](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5092385) before reading this or it won't make any sense, haha.

Abbey is sent to a high school in a town called New Salem. 

 

She has one thousand dollars, but a thousand dollars does not go far in this country, and no one will rent an apartment to a sixteen year old girl who is alone, so she finds shelter in a thick forest.

 

There is a name scrawled on the back of the picture of her target:  _Frankie Stein._

 

Abbey can understand why this Frankie is considered an abomination.

 

She is a mixture of different parts, sewed together sloppily and only living because of electricity. An unholy, filthy being that does not deserve to live - if you can even call her existence a  _life._

 

Still. Abbey doesn't know how she was found. Abbey has been on missions before, sent out to kill other beings of equal impurity. She has never been this far away from home before. She assumes that maybe a family friend found Frankie hiding out in New Salem, somehow, and was disgusted.

 

Yes, that would make  _sense._ She has very few ways to contact her family, now. They have a phone, but Abbey does not. She supposes that maybe she can find a payphone somewhere, or maybe Monster High will have something that she can use to call them with. In hindsight, they did not think this through very well. She usually sends them updates on her missions, things like  _I'm getting close_ or _I have finished._ She wonders how she will get back home after she takes out Frankie, but decides that she should be focusing on her mission. She can worry about transportation later.

 

Her first day is tomorrow, so she tries to get comfortable on the ground.

 

* * *

 

 

The halls of Monster High are littered with teenagers who waste their precious breath by talking to each other in circles by lockers. Abbey doesn't understand it. They speak nonchalantly with smiles on their faces. It's all very foreign to Abbey, but it's hilarious, in a way - these kids have no idea what Abbey is, they have no idea what Abbey can do.

 

The first boy she talks to has a head full of fire and calls her  _baby._ She contemplates strangling him for a moment, but collects herself, and says, "My name not is 'baby', it is Abbey."

 

She walks by him as he turns to a block of ice.

 

Abbey walks around the school, trying to get her first glimpse of Frankie Stein. The halls seem never-ending and winding, but Abbey knows she can make it. She turns and turns and turns, until she walks past a locker and stops herself - there is Frankie Stein, with her friends. Abbey bites her lip - how does this  _abomination_ have so many friends? Admittedly, Frankie is strangely beautiful in person, but Abbey reminds herself that there is no true beauty inside of her. She was designed to look that way.

 

She freezes when Frankie says:  _I wonder who she is._

 

Werewolf Girl shakes her head.  _Who has time for new girls?_

 

 _Right,_ Frankie agrees, then frowns.  _Hey, I was a new girl!_

 

"Who has time for new girls?"

 

"Right."

 

Abbey decides that this will be easy.

 

* * *

 

 

In her first class, she is sitting across from Frankie. A girl comes up to her and  _demands_ that she leave the seat, because this is  _her_ seat and _do you even know who I am?_ Abbey can't leave - this is a perfect spot in which to observe Frankie and her mannerisms. _  
_

 

"You are mean girl," Abbey says, "with sandpaper tongue. I stay."

 

She throws her arms up in protest, but their teacher orders the class into their seats, books open.

 

Abbey watches her. Frankie is studying the book closely, which is probably what Abbey  _should_ be doing, because Abbey has to at least  _look_ like a normal student that is interested in learning - or whatever the kids at Monster High are interested in - and not a trained assassin with a target.

 

Abbey sighs, and turns to her own book. Snow hits her face moments after - she looks over, it is Frankie, and Frankie is  _growling._

 

Killing her, Abbey thinks, will be fun. It will be so  _fun_ to watch the life drain from her face, watch her mismatched eyes turn dead. Frankie had the  _audacity_ to throw a snowball at Abbey Bominable, trained assassin and slaughterer of hundreds (thousands? Or simple double digits? Abbey lost count months ago.) She doesn't care why. She only cares about making her pay. _  
_

 

"You want game?" Abbey growls back. "I give you game."

* * *

 

 

Abbey doesn't know what  _You two, principal's office, now_ means, but she knows that it can't be good.

 

"I can't believe this," Frankie sighs. "I've never been in trouble before. Aren't you worried?"

 

Abbey is not  _worried._ Abbey never feels true  _worry._ If she's worried, she takes out the problem with her fingers around a knife, or a trigger. Easy. Her problems go away with the sounds of gunshots, choking, breathing that fades ever so slightly. Which is probably why Abbey never feels love. Abbey sometimes feels warmth for people in her village - usually girls with sharp teeth and sharper claws who fear her but are intrigued by her also. Intrigue is wrong, intrigue is a bad idea. Abbey prefers to stay elusive, and forces the warmth down. 

 

"You threw snowball at  _me_ first," Abbey tells her. "This  _principal_ will bring hammer down on  _you._ "

 

Frankie looks shocked - more shock than is usually on her face. Abbey imagines the terror that will show when she -

 

"But I didn't... this is all a big misunderstanding."

 

"I understand perfectly," Abbey says. "You want war with Abbey? You  _get_ war."

 

* * *

 

 

"Monster High stands for acceptance, understanding, and tolerance. To help you learn these qualities, you will spend the entire day together. These magic bracelets will bond you together. You must stay less than three feet apart until three o'clock today. You will spend every second together..." Abbey stops listening to the  _principal,_ who has a detached head and is unlike anything Abbey has ever seen and maybe if she takes out this principal too her family will give her some sort of reward. She stops listening to the principal and starts composing a plan.

 

This is the  _perfect_ opportunity for Abbey to strike, and then she can get out of New Salem and away from Monster High and away from these strange people. Back to the mountains, back to her home. Maybe she'll have enough time to polish and clean her weapons before she is given another mission. It doesn't matter, really - in fact, a rusty and dirty blade can make things  _worse_ and that is what Abbey wants, right? - but cleanliness, in a way, keeps her sane. The messiness of blood is a sight that Abbey has grown to love, but after a while, it gets haunting. You sleep at night, and dream of blood, and you wake up and clean your room until your fingers are raw and aching and that's how it always goes for Abbey.

 

Abbey doesn't realize that she's out in the hall with Frankie next to her. At some point, apparently, she had been pushed out and the door had been slammed shut, and Frankie is saying, "I know being stuck with you is... less than the ideal situation, but I think we can make the best of it!"

 

Frankie's positivity is the only redeeming quality about her, Abbey decides. It's... nice. Comforting. Annoying. She reminds herself that Frankie is an abomination. This is the first time that she has to remind herself not to feel.

 

"Just tell me," Frankie says, "why did you start the snowball fight? I don't get it! I mean, I'll totally understand, I'm very understanding, that's kind of my thing." Frankie laughs, and Abbey wonders why Frankie  _acts_ so nice, but lies and lies and lies -  _it is because she is an abomination_ rings inside of her. Abomination. Frankie Stein is an abomination. Okay.

 

"It was you who was instigator," Abbey says.

 

"Well," Frankie sighs, "I guess you don't want to tell me. We'll deal with that later."

 

* * *

 

At lunch, Frankie's friends are all very pretty, and Abbey tries to tell them this, but they leave her alone with Frankie, and Abbey doesn't understand why. 

 

Frankie says that she has been trying  _all day_ to be nice to Abbey, but now Abbey  is  _rude_ to her friends. Abbey didn't intend to be rude - she wanted to be  _impressive,_ something that she would not have bothered with at the start of her mission, but it's all part of her cover. During her first few minutes of lunch, she decided that to do her job most effectively, she must befriend Frankie and fit in with her friend group. That is the plan. Abbey convinces herself that she is thinking this because Frankie, again, is an abomination. A very interesting abomination, but an abomination nonetheless. She is  _not_ thinking this because of a genuine interest in Frankie. That would mean she is failing her mission, and she has never failed a mission before.

 

Abbey lets herself cry. It's fake, but it's enough to spark something in Frankie. "Are you... crying?"

 

"Am sad now," Abbey says, wiping away her tears. "This so surprising?"

 

"Yes," Frankie says. "You seemed so cold. I didn't think you cared, or had any emotions."

 

"Well, I do. I have to go to restroom."

 

* * *

 

 

Abbey suppresses a smile as she runs into a stall, forcing Frankie into the one next to her.

 

Outside, the door opens.

 

She recognizes the voice instantly: it's the mean girl who ordered her out of her seat. She's laughing. "Did you see the new girl and Frankie trapped together? They didn't even realize it was _me_ who threw the first snowball."

 

 Abbey sinks. She was so obsessed with the idea that Frankie started the fight, because hating Frankie is what she is _supposed_ to do.

 

She hears the door close, and Frankie exits the stall.

 

"Look," she says, "I'm sorry I thought it was you who threw the first snowball. I should have _known_ it was Toralei. That wasn't cool."

 

"Is okay."

 

Frankie smiles softly. "Are we cool now?"

 

"We are... _cool_ now, yes."

 

"So," Frankie says, "when these bracelet things come off, I was going to go to the mall with my friends. You wanna come? You don't have to, of course, but -"

 

"This I would like."

 

 _Perfect,_ Abbey thinks.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Flesh without blood / Life in the vivid dream is a new Grimes song that I really like, so of _course_ I had to name a fic after it.
> 
> Anywaaaaaaaays, I tried to write, like, Abbey's conflicting thoughts in this fic, like, there is something interesting about Frankie, and she knows it, but: she still very much views Frankie as an abomination, so there's that.
> 
> IDK. I failed.


End file.
